Objective: One of the brain signatures of the central neuropathic pain (CNP) is the theta band overactivity of wider cortical structures, during imagination of movement. The objective of the study was to investigate whether this over-activity is reversible following the neurofeedback treatment of CNP. Methods: Five paraplegic patients with pain in their legs underwent from twenty to forty neurofeedback sessions that significantly reduced their pain. In order to assess their dynamic cortical activity they were asked to imagine movements of all limbs a week before the first and a week after the last neurofeedback session. Using time–frequency analysis we compared EEG activity during imagination of movement before and after the therapy and further compared it with EEG signals of ten paraplegic patients with no pain and a control group of ten able-bodied people. Results: Neurofeedback treatment resulted in reduced CNP and a wide spread reduction of cortical activity during imagination of movement. The reduction was significant in the alpha and beta band but was largest in the theta band. As a result cortical activity became similar to the activity of other two groups


We studied the effects of different radiation treatments on the physiology and UV-absorbing compounds of the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha subsp. ruderalis . Starting from gemmae, samples were exposed to five radiation treatments: low photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), low PAR+ UV-A, low PAR + UV-B, low PAR + UV-A + UV-B, and high PAR. After 35 days, the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II was similar between treatments, which suggested comparable photoinhibition and physiological vitality, also supported by results showing an unchanged chlorophyll a/b ratio and only slight changes in growth. However, the total contents of both chlorophylls and carotenoids decreased in the UV radiation treatments and, more strongly, in the high-PAR samples, suggesting mainly PAR-dependent damage to the photosynthetic pigments. The xanthophyll index (antheraxanthin + zeaxanthin)/(violaxanthin + antheraxanthin + zeaxanthin) was only increased in the high-PAR samples, indicating an increase in photoprotection through nonphotochemical dissipation of the excess energy. The sclerophylly index (the ratio between the thallus dry mass and surface area) was increased in the UV-B-exposed samples, suggesting a UV-induced structural protection. Only the UV-B-exposed samples showed DNA damage. Several apigenin and luteolin derivatives were found in the methanol-soluble vacuolar fraction of the liverwort and p -coumaric and ferulic acids in the methanol-insoluble cell wall-bound fraction. Most individual soluble compounds, the bulk level of soluble compounds, and chalcone synthase expression increased in UV-B-exposed samples, whereas individual insoluble compounds increased in the samples exposed to only PAR. Principal components analysis summarized these responses, showing the strong influence of both UV-B and PAR levels on the physiology and UV protection of the samples.


It is recognised that following the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) farmers may go through a period of transition where they evaluate the different production alternatives available to them according to their existing situation, expectations and preferences. Drawing on a survey of Scottish beef and sheep producers undertaken in mid-2006, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the preferences of producers in relation to a number of possible economic strategies for production adjustment following CAP reform. The results show that the nature of adjustment is still uncertain, reflected in the high numbers of farmers that do not know what strategy to follow or that will maintain the same production levels despite the reform. However, a sizable percentage of farmers indicate their intentions to concentrate on the production of high quality output.


Cantatas and oratorios for the children's choir in the USSR at the time of the "thaw" and "developed socialism" are studied in the research paper. The large number of these compositions is the evidence of the certain tradition formation and is determined by the fact that the party leaders gave them great value in guided ideological education of the younger generation. The model of the world approved in the Soviet Union is represented in the compositions for the pioneers, the events of national history are highlighted, the themes of communism development, the succession of generations, patriotism and service to the native land are involved. Musical and poetic means of their implementation are subjected to the problems of affordable, spectacular and vivid representation, creating an appropriate emotional atmosphere. The complex of vivid and recognizable means and techniques, typical of the worship genre of music, such as solemn fanfare entrance, major mode, basis on the genre model of march, song-march, anthem and waltz, referring to the techniques of musical vividness and instrumental theatricality are used in the music.


Safety and health in the raw rubber processing activity has been a neglected subject, though this sector is still a major foreign exchange contributor to the national economy in Sri Lanka. The rubber industry in the Sri Lanka employs many thousands of people and as it is a heavy industry, it poses a number of safety and health risks to workers employed in that sector. Occupational safety and health concerns in raw rubber processing organisations have always been and continue to be of the utmost importance. Often the impact of serious workplace injuries overshadows the damage associated with illnesses which may be linked to workplace exposures. Thus, establishing and strengthening of the safety culture is most critical in raw rubber processing environments with a high risk of health and safety concerns. The cause analysis for failings related to safety culture in raw rubber processing activity are varied and far reaching; with each issue coming into play at one critical point in time. However, most of the weaknesses are related with 'Human factors: How people feel (Heart and Mind)', 'What people do (Daily Action)'. Thus, developing of human capacities such as attitudes, behaviours, skills and knowledge etc. on this perspective will be an effective tool in addressing those failures and strengthening the safety culture in raw rubber processing activity. This paper therefore aims to develop a conceptual framework for strengthening the safety culture in raw rubber processing activity through human capacity building.
A comprehensive literature review was used as the research methodology for this paper. Research findings illustrated that yet, like in any other employment sector, workers involved in raw rubber processing activity run an equal if not higher risk of being injured as a result of the type of work they do. Due to management and worker ignorance and rubber products manufacturing chemicals and bad work practices in some factories, serious hazards have been created and many accidents have occurred. Strengthening the safety culture is about more than removing hazards and establishing safety procedures. It is about working with people of the organisation to change their attitudes, behaviours and thoughts, and improve their situational awareness. The finding of this research incorporated into a conceptual framework which proposes a better working condition so that the safety culture can be strengthen.


Exotic parents are being used to increase allelic diversity in bread wheat breeding through (i) interspecific hybridization of the ancestral genomes to produce so-called synthetic derived (SYN-DER) wheat, and (ii) crossing with landrace accessions, originating in abiot-ically stressed environments, that have become isolated from mainstream gene pools. Evaluation of the inherent genetic diversity encompassed by drought-adapted landraces compared with checks using DNA fingerprinting confirmed that some landraces were not only distant from checks but also showed significant diversity among each other. Improvement in performance of SYN-DER lines compared with recurrent parents was not associated with a larger overall investment in root dry weight, but rather an increased partitioning of root mass to deeper soil profiles (between 60 cm and 120 cm) and increased ability to extract moisture from those depths. The best Mexican landraces showed superior ability in terms of water extraction from soil depth, as well as increased concentration of soluble carbohydrates in the stem shortly after anthesis. Although it can be argued that inferring theoretical yield gains from the over-expression of any of these traits is questionable, since compensatory mechanisms may be at work, the fact remains that mech-anistic or genetic linkages among physiological traits remain largely un-established. In the meantime, trait information is being used to make strategic crosses based on the theoretical combination of useful stress-adaptive traits with the possibility of realizing additive gene action in selected progeny. Candidates for crossing with elite check cultivars include landraces identified that showed relatively high biomass under drought combined with favourable expression of physiological traits such as stem carbohydrates, water extraction characteristics, and transpiration efficiency.


China's market transition has become a powerful integrative force, increasing social and economic interaction between the Han Chinese and ethnic minorities, by drawing various ethnic migrant workers into the urban labor market. In this article, we explore the ethnic dimension of migration and labor market dynamics, and compare wage earnings between ethnic minority and Han migrant workers in Kaili City in the Guizhou Province of China. The finding suggests that the labor market transition has increasingly put ethnic migrant workers at a disadvantage in the urban labor market in terms of wage earnings. With the economic restructuring from the 1990s to recent years, the earning gap between ethnic minority and Han migrant workers has widened. The study finds that the labor market experiences and outcomes of ethnic minority and Han migrant workers are quite similar.


Objectives The chief objective of this study was to identify the miRNAs targeting Fos, a well-recognized proto-oncogene that is commonly overexpressed in cervical cancer, and its biological significance on the cellular behaviors of HeLa, a cervical cancer cell. Materials and Methods We initially analyzed the 3′untranslated region (3′UTR) of Fos and screened the potential miRNAs targeting Fos using 3 bioinformatical Web sites. Luciferase reporter assay, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting were used to validate the binding of chosen miRNA (miR-101) on the 3′UTR of Fos and the downstream regulation on its mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, flow cytometry along with the Fos rescue strategy was applied to analyze the modulation of cell cycle of HeLa cells by miR-101. Results Among these predicted candidate miRNAs, miR-101 was the miRNAs preferred by all the 3 used Web sites. The results of luciferase reporter assay, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting demonstrated that miR-101 directly targeted on the 3′UTR of Fos and down-regulated the expression of Fos at mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, cell cycle analysis showed that miR-101 arrests G1-to-S phase transition of HeLa cells, at least partially by targeting Fos. Conclusions We concluded that by targeting the proto-oncogene Fos, miR-101 is involved in G1-to-S phase transition in cervical cancer cells in vitro and might provide a new approach for the pharmacological interference node in cervical cancer treatment.


The state of the art practice in robotics planning is to script behaviors manually, where each behavior is typically generated using trajectory optimization. However, in order for robots to be able to act robustly and adapt to novel situations, they need to plan these activity sequences autonomously. Since the conditions and effects of these behaviors are tightly coupled through time, state and control variables, many problems require that the tasks of activity planning and trajectory optimization are considered together. There are two key issues underlying effective hybrid activity and trajectory planning: the sufficiently accurate modeling of robot dynamics and the capability of planning over long horizons. Hybrid activity and trajectory planners that employ mixed integer programming within a discrete time formulation are able to accurately model complex dynamics for robot vehicles, but are often restricted to relatively short horizons. On the other hand, current hybrid activity planners that employ continuous time formulations can handle longer horizons but they only allow actions to have continuous effects with constant rate of change, and restrict the allowed state constraints to linear inequalities. This is insufficient for many robotic applications and it greatly limits the expressivity of the problems that these approaches can solve. In this work we present the ScottyActivity planner, that is able to generate practical hybrid activity and motion plans over long horizons by employing recent methods in convex optimization combined with methods for planning with relaxed plan graphs and heuristic forward search. Unlike other continuous time planners, ScottyActivity can solve a broad class of robotic planning problems by supporting convex quadratic constraints on state variables and control variables that are jointly constrained and that affect multiple state variables simultaneously. In order to support planning over long horizons, ScottyActivity does not resort to time, state or control variable discretization. While straightforward formulations of consistency checks are not convex and do not scale, we present an efficient convex formulation, in the form of a Second Order Cone Program (SOCP), that is very fast to solve. We also introduce several new realistic domains that demonstrate the capabilities and scalability of our approach, and their simplified linear versions, that we use to compare with other state of the art planners. This work demonstrates the power of integrating advanced convex optimization techniques with discrete search methods and paves the way for extensions dealing with non-convex disjoint constraints, such as obstacle avoidance.


Benny Johansson (2013): No touch vein harvesting technique in coronary by-pass surgery. Impact on patency rate, development of atherosclerosis, left ventricular function and clinical outcome during 16 years follow-up. Örebro Studies in Medicine 87. This thesis was based on a prospective randomized trial which was started in 1993 to compare the no touch (NT) with the conventional (C) technique of saphenous vein harvesting for CABG. In paper I, was demonstrated superior patency for the NT grafts at short-term (1.5 years; 95,6% vs 89%; p < 0,05) and long-term follow-up (8.5 years; 90% vs 76%; p = 0,01). In paper II, at long-term follow-up there were significantly more patients free from recurrent angina and in NYHA-class I in the NT group (67,3% vs 43,2%; p = 0,02). In addition there was no cardiac death and a trend towards improvement of hard clinical endpoints in the NT group. In paper III, we tested the hypothesis that the NT harvesting technique could provide a reduced progression of the atherosclerotic disease in the vein graft wall by using cineangiography and an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) assessment. At short-term follow-up, the cineangiogram showed more normal grafts in the NT group (89% vs 75%; p = 0,006). The IVUS assessment showed less mean intimal thickness (0.43 (0.07) mm vs 0.52 (0.08) mm; p = 0.03), less grafts with considerable intimal hyperplasia (>0.9 mm; 20% vs 78.6%; p = 0.011) and fewer patients with grafts containing considerable hyperplasia (>0.9 mm; 25% vs 100%; p = 0.007) for the NT vein grafts. At long-term follow-up the cineangiogram showed more normal grafts, 91.2% in the NT group compared with 83.1% in the C group; there were fewer grafts with significant stenosis, with 7.7% in the NT group compared with 15.6% in the C group. The IVUS assessment showed fewer grafts containing multiple plaques (14.8% vs 50%; p = 0.008), less advanced plaque with lipid (11.8% vs 63.9%; p = 0.0004) and less maximal plaque thickness (1.04 (0.23) mm vs 1.32 (0.25) mm; p = 0.02) in the NT vein grafts. In paper IV, was demonstrated a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction in the NT group compared with the C group (57,9 + 9,5% vs 49,4 + 13,3%; p = 0.004) at 16 years follow-up. Also, a smaller left atrium size, a lower BNP value and fewer patients with atrial fibrillation in the NT group indicated a better left ventricular diastolic function. In conclusion: This thesis showed that the no-touch vein harvesting technique provided a superior long-term patency compared with the conventional technique due to a delayed atherosclerotic process in vein grafts. This was associated with a preserved left ventricular systolic function at 16 years follow-up and also with more asymptomatic patients during this follow-up period.


Understanding the constitutive behavior of the human brain is critical to interpret the physical environment during neurodevelopment, neurosurgery, and neurodegeneration. A wide variety of constitutive models has been proposed to characterize the brain at different temporal and spatial scales. Yet, their model parameters are typically calibrated with a single loading mode and fail to predict the behavior under arbitrary loading conditions. Here we used a finite viscoelastic Ogden model with six material parameters–an elastic stiffness, two viscoelastic stiffnesses, a nonlinearity parameter, and two viscous time constants–to model the characteristic nonlinearity, conditioning, hysteresis and tension-compression asymmetry of the human brain. We calibrated the model under shear, shear relaxation, compression, compression relaxation, and tension for four different regions of the human brain, the cortex, basal ganglia, corona radiata, and corpus callosum. Strikingly, unconditioned gray matter with 0.36 kPa and white matter with 0.35 kPa were equally stiff, whereas conditioned gray matter with 0.52 kPa was three times stiffer than white matter with 0.18 kPa. While both unconditioned viscous time constants were larger in gray than in white matter, both conditioned constants were smaller. These rheological differences suggest a different porosity between both tissues and explain–at least in part–the ongoing controversy between reported stiffness differences in gray and white matter. Our unconditioned and conditioned parameter sets are readily available for finite element simulations with commercial software packages that feature Ogden type models at finite deformations. As such, our results have direct implications on improving the accuracy of human brain simulations in health and disease.


An experiment was conducted for a period of 60 days to optimize the planting density of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) with Tilapia in a shallow water recirculation aquaponic system. Four different planting density/m 2  i.e. 15 plants/m 2 , 20 plants/m 2 , 25 plants/m 2  and 30 plants/m 2  of hydroponic trough was used as four different treatments whereas, the stocking density of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was 100 fish/m 3  for all the treatments. Fish was reared in 300 L size tank and fed up to satiation twice a day with commercially available floating pellet with 30% protein level. The size of each of the hydroponic trough was 30 L which were made up with GI steel sheet. Styrofoam was used to cover up the hydroponic trough and made necessary number of hole according to the planting density of different treatment to support the plants in water medium. During the experimental period different water quality parameters were monitored regularly. Growth and yield of Lettuce were measured by means of number of leafs, plant height (cm), leaf area (cm 2 ), dry matter (g) and wet yield (kg/m 2 ). Whereas, Tilapia's growth performances were evaluated on the basis of weight gain (g), production (kg/m 3 ), specific growth rate (% per day) and feed conversion ratio. At the end of the experiment, it was observed that Lettuce production were highest in T 3  (25 plants/m 2 ), although the growth performance was significantly better in T 1  and T 2  because of higher nutrient availability in these hydroponic trough. Fish production was significantly higher in T 3  and T 4  compared to T 1  and T 2 , although, highest production were observed in T 4 . Regarding both Lettuce and Tilapia production with suitable water quality parameters, it was therefore, optimized that, 25 plants/m 2  area of hydroponic trough was ideal to support 100 Tilapia/m 3  in a shallow water based recirculation aquaponic system.


The Lagunera region is the main region of dairy cattle exploitation in the whole country, a process that demands large quantities of forage of the highest quality. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the forage production on dry basis of three forage corn hybrids, using different amounts of vermicompost and bovine manure for fertilization, as well as to evaluate the effect of these treatments on the physico-chemical properties ground. Under organic fertilization, HT 6806Y, ABT hybrids were tested; DAS2306, from Dow Agrosciences and RX717, from Asgrow. The experiment was established in the Faculty of Agriculture and Zootechnics of the Juarez University of the state of Durango. A randomized blocks design was used in split plots, with three repetitions. The experiment was carried out in the spring-summer cycle of 2014. In the comparison analysis of means the hybrid HT6806Y proved to be superior (p≤ 0.05) with a production of 69.91 t ha of green forage, under the treatment T3 (160 t ha of solarized manure with 3 t ha of vermicompost); on the other hand, the three hybrids showed a good response to organic fertilization, since they all obtained acceptable productions of dry matter of 25.89 t ha (HT6806Y), 26.04 t ha (RX717) and 25.33 t ha (DAS2306). The mixtures of nitrogen sources tested in this study turned out to be a good alternative that competes with the synthetic sources of nitrogen, improving some variables of yield and quality of the forages.


We introduce a force-field haptic rendering method for converting visual data to haptic data. The method includes a novel framework to convert specialized 3D map models into force fields. We generate the final force fields by using structure from motion and implicit surface approximation algorithms. Visually impaired people then can learn to navigate with these maps, using off-the-shelf haptic


In this paper, which is in four parts, I make a plea to those involved in research into mathematics teaching and learning of the need to acknowledge, however their work is framed, that it will be located in a culture, not always visible to a reader, that should be made explicit. In the first part I examine three key models of culture and their significance for education. In the second I further highlight the impact of culture on what children are expected by critiquing various models of curriculum. The third part examines how culture informs the particularities of four European mathematics curricula, while the fourth part explores culturally located differences in mathematics teaching. In so doing a plea to researchers is framed: Culture permeates all aspects of educational endeavour and should be acknowledged more explicitly than it is.


This project aims at explaining and defining the SDN technology with integration of the NFV technology. We will also see the logic of this technology applied to a program designed for this project. The objective of this project is to understand the purpose of this technology, where is it going to be used, why companies like Google or Microsoft for over 2 years have been investing time and resources to develop and to implement the technology on the corporate level, as well as on the level of regular user like you and me. Firstly we will focus on the explanation of the SDN technology, what it is, what for is it going to be used and what is the future of this technology. Why the SDN is so important? Next, we will explain the use of the NFV and show how it is going to change the way we see the network right now. NFV also works with the SDN. Once we define the basics of the two technologies, we will proceed to the explanation of the practical part of this project. I would like to comment on the software used for this project is open source, since the OS used on the machine that carried out the simulations, and wrote this lines, to the package Rstudio. The practical part is to simulate how will work the network flows when this technology is used. The program will optimize the resources that we want for the proper performance of the global system. For example, we can optimize the path, the number of machines the flow has to cross, optimize the global delay of the flow, etc. Finally, we will reach specific conclusions based on the work we have done, as well as some personal outcome, such as the analysis of the difficulties encountered during the performance, as well as training and finally knowledge gained through work.


Volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-Au deposits of the Bonnifield mining district formed during Late Devonian-Early Mississippian magmatism along the western edge of Laurentia. The largest deposits, Dry Creek and WTF, have a combined resource of 5.7 million tonnes at 10% Zn, 4% Pb, 0.3% Cu, 300 grams per tonne (g/t) Ag, and 1.6 g/t Au. These polymetallic deposits are hosted in high field strength element (HFSE)- and rare-earth element (REE)-rich peralkaline (pantelleritic) metarhyolite, and interlayered pyritic argillite and mudstone of the Mystic Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist Formation. Mystic Creek metarhyolite and alkali basalt (Chute Creek Member) constitute a bimodal pair that formed in an extensional environment. A synvolcanic peralkaline quartz porphyry containing veins of fluorite, sphalerite, pyrite, and quartz intrudes the central footwall at Dry Creek. The Anderson Mountain deposit, located ~32 km to the southwest, occurs within calc-alkaline felsic to intermediate-composition metavolcanic rocks and associated graphitic argillite of the Wood River assemblage. Felsic metavolcanic rocks there have only slightly elevated HFSEs and REEs. The association of abundant graphitic and siliceous argillite with the felsic volcanic rocks together with low Cu contents in the Bonnifield deposits suggests classification as a siliciclastic-felsic type of VMS deposit. Bonnifield massive sulfides and host rocks were metamorphosed and deformed under greenschist-facies conditions in the Mesozoic. Primary depositional textures, generally uncommon, consist of framboids, framboidal aggregates, and spongy masses of pyrite. Sphalerite, the predominant base metal sulfide, encloses early pyrite framboids. Galena and chalcopyrite accompanied early pyrite formation but primarily formed late in the paragenetic sequence. Silver-rich tetrahedrite is a minor late phase at the Dry Creek deposit. Gold and Ag are present in low to moderate amounts in pyrite from all of the deposits; electrum inclusions occur in Dry Creek sphalerite. Contents and ratios of trace elements in graphitic argillite that serve as proxies for the redox state of the bottom waters in the basin indicate that Dry Creek mineralization took place in suboxic to periodically anoxic bottom waters. Trace element data show higher contents of Tl-Mn-As in pyrite from the Anderson Mountain deposit compared to the Dry Creek or WTF deposits and thus suggest that Anderson Mountain may have formed at lower temperatures or under slightly more oxidizing conditions. No exact modern analogue for the tectonic setting of the Bonnifield VMS deposits is known, although the back-arc regions of the Okinawa Trough and Woodlark Basin satisfy the requirement for a submarine, extensional setting adjacent to a continental margin. Limited occurrences of peralkaline volcanic rocks occur in these two potential analogues, but the peralkalinity of those rocks is much less than that of the Mystic Creek Member metarhyolites in the Bonnifield district. The highly elevated trace element (e.g., Zr, Nb) contents of Mystic Creek metarhyolites suggest that a better analogue may be a submarine rifted continental margin. The calc-alkaline composition of the host rocks to the Anderson Mountain deposit suggests that mineralization there formed in a continental margin arc, outboard of the extended continental margin setting of the peralkaline-hosted Dry Creek and WTF deposits.


Ag nanocrystals with branched structures have attracted broad interest due to their application in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and catalysis. Herein, we reported the synthesis of two-dimensional Ag nanoplates with highly branched structures via a seed-mediated method. Systematic studies on controlled kinetic growth were carried out to elucidate the growth mechanism. It was found that such nanostructures could be achieved when the atomic deposition rate was much larger than the surface diffusion rate of Ag atoms on the nanoplates, which was fulfilled by the incorporation of Cu in the Ag lattice through Cu-UPD. The as-prepared branched Ag nanoplates exhibited superior performance towards the catalytic reduction of nitrophenol.


Abstract One of the major issues in Neoproterozoic geology is the extent to which glaciations in the Cryogenian and Ediacaran periods were global in extent and synchronous or regional in extent and diachronous. A similarly outstanding concern is determining whether deposits are truly glacial, as opposed to gravitationally initiated mass flow deposits in the context of a rifting Rodinia supercontinent. In this paper, we present 115 publically available, quality-filtered chronostratigraphic constraints on the age and duration of Neoproterozoic glacial successions, and compare their palaeocontinental distribution. Depositional ages from North America (Laurentia) clearly support the idea of a substantial glacial epoch between about 720-660 Ma on this palaeocontinent but paradoxically, the majority of Australian glacial strata plot outside the previously proposed global time band for the eponymous Sturtian glaciation, with new dates from China also plotting in a time window previously thought to be an interglacial. For the early Cryogenian, the data permit either a short, sharp 2.4 Ma long global glaciation, or diachronous shifting of ice centres across the Rodinia palaeocontinent, implying regional rather than global ice covers and asynchronous glacial cycles. Thus, based on careful consideration of age constraints, we suggest that strata deposited in the ca. 720-660 Ma window in North America are better described as belonging to a Laurentian Neoproterozoic Glacial Interval (LNGI), given that use of the term Sturtian for a major Neoproterozoic glacial epoch can clearly no longer be justified. This finding is of fundamental importance for reconstructing the Neoproterozoic climate system because chronological constraints do not support the concept of a synchronous panglacial Snowball Earth. Diachroneity of the glacial record reflects underlying palaeotectonic and palaeogeographic controls on the timing of glaciation resulting from the progressive breakup of the Rodinian supercontinent.


Objectives To assess the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components and cardiovascular disease (CVD) according to different criteria of MetS, as well as whether the estimated association between MetS and CVD was affected by different definitions of MetS among the Chinese population. Design Population-based, cross-sectional study. Setting Data were from a large-scale national stroke screening survey, China National Stroke Screening and Prevention Project. Participants A nationally representative sample of 109 551 Chinese adults aged ≥40 years in 2014–2015 were included. Primary outcome measures CVD conditions (stroke, coronary heart disease (CHD) and atrial fibrillation (AF)) diagnosed by clinicians were self-reported. Results ORs after adjusting for CHD, stroke, AF and CVD in those with MetS using the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) criterion were 1.56 (95% CI 1.48 to 1.63), 1.23 (95% CI 1.17 to 1.30), 1.14 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.21) and 1.40 (95% CI 1.35 to 1.45); 1.51 (95% CI 1.44 to 1.58), 1.20 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.26), 1.09 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.15) and 1.34 (95% CI 1.29 to 1.38) with the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute criterion; and 1.41 (95% CI 1.35 to 1.48), 1.24 (95% CI 1.19 to 1.30), 1.12 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.18) and 1.31 (95% CI 1.27 to 1.35) with the International Diabetes Federation criterion, respectively. Elevated blood pressures were all highly related to the prevalence of stroke and AF, and reduced high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol was associated with a higher OR for CHD than other individual components of MetS. Conclusions MetS is significantly associated with CVD, and the prevalence of CVD was more evident when MetS was defined according to the NCEP ATP III criterion. Developing effective public health strategies for the prevention, detection and treatment of MetS should be an urgent priority to reduce the burden of CVD in China.


Eight new species of Gulella Pfeiffer, 1856 are described from south-eastern South Africa, occurring over a linear distance of 550 km within the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot. Seven species are narrow-range endemics, while Gulella kenbrowni sp. nov. occurs somewhat patchily over most of this distance. The very similar G. fordycei sp. nov. is recorded from only one small nature reserve in medium-altitude mistbelt forest. Six species, G. crookesi sp. nov., G. maraisi sp. nov., G. mkombeni sp. nov., G. abbotti sp. nov., G. donaikeni sp. nov. and G. calcicola sp. nov. each occur at one or a few isolated localities along a narrow strip of 140 km at or near the coast. The latter two are found only in the Marble Delta region, where mining has badly degraded and continues to threaten their habitat, and appear to meet the criteria for Red-Listing as Critically Endangered. Six species occur in nature reserves, highlighting the importance of small pockets of protected habitat for the conservation of terrestrial snails.


Poems In Praise of the Impossible, Wild World and Its Beauty Sometimes the most compelling landscapes are the ones where worlds collide: where a desert meets the sea, a civilization, noman's land. Here in Bonfire Opera, grief and Eros grapple in the same domain. A bullet-hole through the heart, a house full of ripe persimmons, a ghost in a garden. Coyotes cry out on the hill, and lovers find themselves kissing, "bee-stung, drunk" in the middle of road. Here, the dust is holy, as is the dark, unknown. These are poems that praise the impossible, wild world, finding beauty in its wake. Excerpt from "Bonfire Opera" In those days, there was a woman in our circle who was known, not only for her beauty, but also for taking off all her clothes and singing opera. And sure enough, as the night wore on and the stars emerged to stare at their reflections on the sea, and everyone had drunk a little wine, she began to disrobe, loose her great bosom and the tender belly, pale in the moonlight, the Viking hips, and to let her torn raiment fall to the sand as we looked up from the flames.... Download ebook, read file pdf Poems


In Reply. —Dr Smith appropriately has raised the concern that costs of medical care are greater in academic health centers than in community-based practice. We are not proposing that additional grants be made directly to academic centers to provide medical care on site. Our recommendation is to provide financial incentives to academic health centers, dependent on their being involved in a true partnership with their communities, using complements to traditional medical care located in neighborhoods to address health care needs in a more timely, effective, and less costly manner. To enhance the economic well-being as well as the health status of community populations, our approach places the emphasis on community development and leadership and on community-based health promotion and disease prevention programs operated by neighborhood-based, culturally sensitive personnel. Such an approach thus would provide less costly community-based programs that are designed to decrease the need for more expensive hospital-based care


The  purpose for  research  is  inspiration from one child  with autism in my family, from  heteroanamnesis  and  symtoms, I decided  to  do  the  test-the  first doughter of my sister  with diagnosis autism,  she  had  multi  food  intolerance, than with  prof.Blyta  we  started  with  follow  up  panel (a  big  panel  with more  analysis of blood, urine, fecal, biochemistry also microbiology) but the first  test  was food intolerance  for  those patients. The  connection  between Autism and food intolerances is  likely  to  lie  in the  higher  prevalence  of  intestinal  permeability  that  it  seen  in  autistic   patients. They  have  intestinal  permeability, the  largest   protein  undigested  into  the  blood, from  this  process  can  develop food  intolerance and  food  allergy. For  food  intolerance  is  responsible IgG or IgG4 and  those  antibodies   reacted   as  adaptive  immune  system. The IgG antibodies  then  fix  to the  food proteins to form an immune complex in the blood stream. If the immune complex fixes to a tissue it will eventually lead to tissue damage from inflammation and specific symptoms which vary from person to person.Is  the most  important  casein intolerance and gluten intolerance because  from casein has a pathological mechanism of casomorphine formation aslo from gluten intolerance to  gliadinomorphine ,these findings are  specific for pathologies such as Autism delays in psychomotor, delays in speech, mood, anxiety, hyperactivity etc, but it is another of my research on gliadinomorphine and casomorphine with Autistic childrens.


Lyme borreliosis (LB) and nephropathia epidemica (NE) are zoonoses resulting from two different transmission mechanisms and the action of two different pathogens: the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and the Puumala virus, respectively. The landscape configuration is known to influence the spatial spread of both diseases by affecting vector demography and human exposure to infection. Yet, the connections between landscape and disease have rarely been quantified, thereby hampering the exploitation of land cover data sources to segment areas in function of risk. This study implemented a data-driven approach to relate land cover metrics and an indicator of NE/LB risk at different scales of observation of the landscape. Our results showed the suitability of the modeling approach (r2 > 0.75, ρ < 0.001) and highlighted the relevance of the scale of observation in the set of landscape attributes found to influence disease risk as well as common and specific risk factors of NE and LB.


Cengklik Dam is a multifungtion fresh water teritory. The important think how
to know bentos community are actual ecology condition indicatore some teritory and also
as an information about wealth on.
The aims of this reaserch were to know influences water quality and bentos
community stucture and also to know bentos community structure based on diversity and
similarity index in Cengklik Dam Boyolali.
The observation was done on some point zonation which different characterly
habitat from water teritory Cengklik Dam. This reserch was hold from Juli uo to Oktober
2008. Steps on this research are bentos sampling, water sampling, soil (substrate) sampling
and decision, bentos analisis and identifikation, and measurement abiotic environment
factor. From the data wich be received then it are to compare with qualities standard,
counted diversity index and similarity index, and also analysis correlation and regretion
between some variable of environment factor with index diversity.
Water and soil qualities (temperature, purity, pH, DO, phospat, and calcium),
based on study and bentos community structure analisis in the water ecosystem at Cengklik
Dam, Boyolali to support aquatic organism (bentos) life so that it areal suitable developed
for aquaculture. Result showed that bentos community at increase water quality area
with scratch a way (station I and V) better than "karamba" area and out let (station II and
VI) wich were pointed by species number, medium diversity index, and 100% similarity
index.


Online Material: Google Street Views of damaged structures, with KMZ files showing locations of photos.

The M w 6.3 2009 L'Aquila earthquake in the Italian Abruzzi Mountains occurred on 6 April at 3:33 local time (Chiaraluce et al. , 2010; Di Luccio and Pino, 2010). The earthquake caused widespread damage in the city of L'Aquila and the surrounding villages. Official sources reported 307 casualties and some 1500+ injured persons and 65,000+ homeless. This earthquake is one of the best‐recorded normal‐faulting events, and it is the first significant earthquake that directly struck a highly populated Italian city in the last 100 years. Published works abound on the source mechanism (Herrmann et al. , 2011), surface effects and deformations (i.e., Anzidei et al. , 2009; Emergeo Working Group, 2009; Falcucci et al. , 2009; Vittori et al. , 2011), strong motion records and simulations (De Luca et al. , 2005; Ameri et al. , 2009; Pacor et al. , 2010; Sabetta, 2010; Smerzini and Villani, 2012; Ugurhan et al. , 2012), and the macroseismic effects (Azzaro et al. , 2010; Tertulliani et al. , 2011; Tertulliani et al. , 2012). Cucci and Tertulliani (2011) and Castellano et al. (2012) examined earthquake‐rotated objects (EROs) in the mesoseismal zone of the earthquake.

During a field survey in 2011, we documented several EROs with the terrestrial laser‐scanning technique (Hinzen et al. , 2013a). Even though this survey was conducted 27 months after the main earthquake struck the region, significant damage was still visible. In the so‐called red zone of L'Aquila, interim measures of protection had been installed, but included only isolated reconstructions or new buildings. For documentary and teaching purposes, many digital photographs were taken in L'Aquila, Paganica, and some other surrounding villages (Fig. 1). During the cataloging of these photos, Google Earth software was used to map the …


SUMMARY
The last decade has been marked by substantial progress
in the understanding of the pathophysiology of Irritable
Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Considerable advances contributing
to this progress include the decryption of the secrets of
the enteric nervous system (ENS) and the neuronal pathways
involved in the transmission of visceral nociception
as well as the localisation of potential processing centres
in the central nervous system (CNS). Serotonin is sequestered
in the neterochromaffin cells and is an essential mediator
in the ENS. It manifests its actions mainly by 5-HT3
and 5-HT4 receptors and plays a key role in intestinal motility
and secretion. The "central processing unit" of serotoninergic
actions in the ENS is the AH/Dogiel morphologic
type II neuron which was formerly considered to be the
primary afferent neuron. It remains unknown whether the
neurologic disorder in IBS consists of an exaggerated response
to noxious stimuli in the gut, or misinterpretation
by the CNS of otherwise accurate information. The exact
locus of projection of visceral information in the brain is
not known, but there is increasing evidence for areas such
as the thalamus, the prefrontal cortex and the amygdaloid
nucleous in the limbic system. Anxiogenic colonic response
is probably mediated by CRF-1 receptors. Autonomic pathways
from the brain stem may also play a role by regulating
the intensity of perception during visceral stimulation.
More accurate localisation of the neurologic derangement
along the brain-gut axis is required, thus permitting a more
targeted therapeutic intervention.
Gastroenterology department, Tzaneion Hospital, Pireus, Greece Key words: Serotonin, visceral nociception, affered neuron
presynaptic inhibition


Cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) coupled with high-resolution mass-spectrometry (MS) has proven to be indispensable tool to track thermal stability changes in cellular proteins caused by various external or internal perturbations. One of the major applications of CETSA MS is still binding profile characterization of small molecule drugs. Before applying the method for characterization of novel compound it is crucially important to understand the limitations, sensitivity and ways to improve the throughput of the different method implementations. Here we present deep comprehensive profiling of Staurosporine induced proteome thermal stability alteration utilizing different experiment layouts. By applying unbiased straightforward sample preparation and data analysis approaches we were able to compare and benchmark different experiment layouts for detecting compound-induced protein stability changes in CETSA MS experiments.


Economists have long recognised that several factors are usually at work, when it comes to the determinants of bank credits in modern economies. Indeed, this subject has recently been reawakened by various scholars in the context of both the developing and developed countries, and Namibia is not an exception to this discussion. This study aims at addressing two key questions. Firstly, the driving factors that push the business sector in Namibia to demand for credit facilities are identified and analysed. Secondly, the neoclassical theory that postulates that there is an inverse and significant relationship between the real interest rate and investment growth is tested for Namibia. The study relied upon co-integration and error correction procedures in carrying out the investigation. Additionally, annual time series data for the period running from 1993 to 2010 was used in the study. The key findings arising from this study are the following. Firstly, the demand for bank credit in Namibia responds more to factors other than real interest rate. Secondly, the neoclassical theory, which postulates that real interest rates have significant dampening impact on credit decisions, does not hold water in the case of Namibia. In light of these findings, specific recommendations are put forward. Finally, future direction regarding further research concerning the issue under investigation is highlighted. K eywo r d s : Co-integration procedures, Annual Time Series Data, Commercial Bank credit, Gross Domestic Product, Neoclassical Theory of Investment Behaviour


In this thesis, I investigate the behavior of particles dressed by quantum field excitations and random interactions. First I consider two-carrier states in the Peierls model describing the modulation of the particle hopping due to lattice distortions. I compute the spectral response using the Momentum Average approximation. Combining accurate numerical techniques and analytical arguments, I provide a complete picture of the Peierls bipolarons. It is found that polarons bind into strongly bound yet light bipolarons in the singlet sector, even at large values of the electron-phonon coupling strength. At finite electron fillings, these bipolarons may condense into a high-Tc superconductor. On the other hand, phonons mediate a repulsive interaction in the triplet sector, or equivalently (in one dimension), between two hard-core particles, in which case the ground-state dimers bound by sufficiently attractive bare interactions exhibit two sharp transitions, one of which is the first known example of a self-trapping transition at the two-carrier level. In both situations, phonons mediate pair-hopping effective interactions between the carriers. I further study some aspects of the excited spectrum for the two hard-core particles, a situation relevant to ultracold quantum simulators. It is found that the repulsive phonon-mediated interaction binds a repulsive bipolaron embedded in the excited spectrum. I then turn to the study of quenched randomness in an ultracold molecular plasma. I argue that the quenched ultracold plasma presents an experimental platform for studying quantum many-body physics of disordered systems in the long-time and finite energy-density limits. I analyze an experiment that quenches a plasma of nitric oxide to an ultracold system of Rydberg molecules, ions and electrons that exhibits a long-lived state of arrested relaxation. The qualitative features of this state fail to conform with classical models. I develop a microscopic


Batten disease or neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) is a group of rare, fatal, inherited neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorders. Numerous genes (CLN1–CLN8, CLN10–CLN14) were identified in which mutations can lead to NCL; however, the underlying pathophysiology remains elusive. Despite this, the NCLs share some of the same features and symptoms but vary in respect to severity and onset of symptoms by age. Some common symptoms include the progressive loss of vision, mental and motor deterioration, epileptic seizures, premature death, and in the rare adult-onset, dementia. Currently, all forms of NCL are fatal, and no curative treatments are available. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can differentiate into any cell type of the human body. Cells reprogrammed from a patient have the advantage of acquiring disease pathogenesis along with recapitulation of disease-associated phenotypes. They serve as practical model systems to shed new light on disease mechanisms and provide a phenotypic screening platform to enable drug discovery. Herein, we provide an overview of available iPSC models for a number of different NCLs. More specifically, we highlight findings in these models that may spur target identification and drug development.


European catfish, Silurus glanis, is an important species for aquaculture in temperate climates. At present, its production relies mainly on pond culture. However, European catfish could be a promising candidate for intensive aquaculture since it has a high growth rate on commercial diet, is resistant to handling and has relatively low requirement for water quality. In this study we compared the results from induced breeding of European catfish broodstock reared in an intensive system or in a pond environment. Induced breeding experiments were conducted in two consecutive spawning seasons using European catfish broodstocks with different origins. One broodstock was cultured in an intensive system, while the other was reared in artificial pond conditions. One day before the experiments, fish were transferred to the hatchery and placed in 4.0 m polypropylene tanks with running water. One experimental group contained fish cultured in an intensive system, while the other consisted of fish reared in pond conditions. Fish in both groups received an injection of dry carp pituitary administered in 0.7% NaCl at a dose of 4.0 mg kg body weight. Assessment of ovulation was carried out by determining the ovulation ratio (number of ovulated females / number injected) and by the pseudo-gonadosomatic index (PGSI) calculated as follows: (weight of stripped egg mass / body weight of the female before stripping)  100. When ovulation was detected, the eggs were stripped and weighed. Fertilization rate of the eggs was used as a parameter for egg quality. In both spawning seasons, five out of six females reared in pond conditions ovulated after the treatment, while pituitary injection induced ovulation in all females cultured in an intensive system. Mean fertilization rates for the two groups were high and statistically similar in both seasons (P>0.05). The mean PGSI values, however, were significantly higher (P<0.05) for the females cultured in the intensive system in both seasons. In conclusion, this study shows that European catfish females reared in intensive conditions from larval stage to maturity at constant temperature of 21.0±1.0°C can be induced to ovulate by pituitary injection. The reason for the high relative fecundity of these females was probably the constant temperature that secured continuous ovarian development all year round. Results from the propagation of fish reared in pond conditions were similar to those from hatchery breeding of European catfish that has been carried out routinely for years.


Marilyn & Me: A Photographers Memories By Lawrence Schiller New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday 114 pp. Cloth $20 Also available by Taschen (signed and numbered monograph) THE EVENTS SURROUNDING THE PUBLICATION OF LAWRENCE SCHILLER'S Marilyn & Me: A Photographer's Memories, lead up to the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death. She left the earthly plane on August 5, 1962 at the tender age of 36. Yet Marilyn the icon refuses to die: a solo exhibition of Schiller's seductive photographs of Marilyn went on display in May at the Steven Kasher Gallery in New York; an art edition of the photos is published by Taschen; and Marilyn's image as captured by Schiller graces the cover of the current issue of Vanity Fair. The legend endures. What is it about Marilyn that so captures our imagination? Her beauty, certainly, was quintessentially American. Her voice was as alluring as a siren's sweet singing. Yet it is her vulnerability that persuades us, brings us closer, and makes us want more. We sense her pain, her very human insecurity even in the face of outlandish fame. Men want to hold her and protect her. Women want to be her--or at least to share in her otherworldly allure. And now comes this book. There is something sensuous and comforting in Schiller's warm memoir, Marilyn & Me. It feels right. It's a small book replete with endearing anecdotes. Schiller's memories reveal the scintillating charms of the woman obscured by the legend in much the same way as his photographs capture Marilyn's timeless beauty. You don't so much read the book as you slip into it like a silk robe after a dip in a heated pool. The photographs Schiller made with Marilyn in the last two years ofher life and the prose of his memoir expose an open, soft, enticing real live woman one wants to defend and protect against a world so hungry for her image. You want to thank Schiller for bringing us his intimate pictures and his personal stories of this extraordinary American female seen up close. And then, as you read on, you might want to light up a cigar and celebrate Schiller's wiles as a businessman. For not only does he tell us how he made his famous pictures of Marilyn, he explains how he used them to catapult his career to a whole new level. Marilyn Monroe was a woman and movie star like no other. She was Norman Mailer's muse. He loved her from afar. I seem to remember he wrote that the closest he got to her was to sit several rows back from her gorgeous back at some event or other Marilyn was with her then husband, Arthur Miller, and one can imagine Norman fuming, smoldering, stewing: "What the hell is she doing with that stiff galoot? A girl that sexy belongs with me!" So Mailer had her, in his own way, on the page, in the book Schiller brought him, Mailer's Marilyn: A Biography, published in 1973. Mailer said Marilyn was "not so much a movie star as a major figure in American life." It became one of Mailer's best-selling books. But Schiller had her up close. He adored her with his camera, seen, as he tells us, through his one good eye. …


One important sense of the term "adaptation" is the process by which an agent changes appropriately in response to new information provided by environmental stimuli. We propose a novel quantitative measure of this phenomenon, which extends a little-known definition of adaptation as "increased robustness to repeated perturbation" proposed by Klyubin (2002). Our proposed definition essentially corresponds to the average value (relative to some fitness function) of state changes that are caused by the environment (in some statistical ensemble of environments). We compute this value by comparing the agent's actual fitness with its fitness in a counterfactual world where the causal links between agent and environment are disrupted. The proposed measure is illustrated in a simple Markov chain model and also using a recent model of autopoietic agency in a simulated protocell.


There is an ongoing debate whether gender differences in the dimensions of the knee should influence the design of TKA components. We hypothesized that not only gender but also the patient's morphotype determined the shape of the distal femur and proximal tibia and that this factor should be taken into account when designing gender-specific TKA implants. We reviewed all 1000 European white patients undergoing TKA between April 2003 and June 2007 and stratified each into one of three groups based on their anatomic constitution: endomorph, ectomorph, or mesomorph. Of the 250 smallest knees, 98% were female, whereas 81% of the 250 largest knees were male. In the group with intermediate-sized knees, female knees were narrower than male knees. Patients with smaller knees (predominantly female) demonstrated large variability between narrow and wide mediolateral dimensions irrespective of gender. The same was true for larger knees (predominantly male). This variability within gender could partially be explained by morphotypic variation. Patients with short and wide morphotype (endomorph) had, irrespective of gender, wider knees, whereas patients with long and narrow morphotype (ectomorph) had narrower knees. The shape of the knee is therefore not only dependent on gender, but also on the morphotype of the patient. Level of Evidence: Level I, diagnostic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


A crude endo-xylanase produced by Aspergillus niger BCC14405 was investigated for its potential in pre-bleaching of chemical pulp from eucalyptus. The optimal fermentation conditions on the basis of optimization using response surface methodology included cultivation in a complex medium comprising wheat bran, rice bran, and soybean meal supplemented with yeast extract, glucose, peptone, and lactose with a starting pH of 6.0 for 7 d. This resulted in production of 89.5 IU/mL of xylanase with minor cellulase activity. Proteomic analysis using LC/MS/MS revealed that the crude enzyme was a composite of hemicellulolytic enzymes, including endo-β-1,4-xylanase and other hemicellulolytic enzymes attacking arabinoxylan and mannan. Pretreatment of the pulp at a xylanase dosage of 10 IU/g increased the brightness ceiling after the C-Eop-H bleaching step up to 3.0% using a chlorine charge with a C-factor of 0.16–0.20. Xylanase treatment also led to reduction in chlorine charge of at least 20%, with an acceptable brightness level. The enzyme pretreatment resulted in a slight increase in pulp viscosity, suggesting an increase in relative cellulose content. The crude enzyme was potent in the enzyme-aided beaching of chemical pulp in an environmentally friendly pulping process.


Margaret Rossiter's widely hailed Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940 marked the beginning of a pioneering effort to interpret the history of American women scientists. That effort continues in this provocative sequel that covers the crucial years of World War II and beyond. Rossiter begins by showing how the acute labor shortage brought on by the war seemed to hold out new hope for women professionals, especially in the sciences. But the public posture of welcoming women into the scientific professions masked a deep-seated opposition to change. Rossiter proves that despite frustrating obstacles created by the patriarchal structure and values of universities, government, and industry, women scientists made genuine contributions to their fields, grew in professional stature, and laid the foundation for the breakthroughs that followed 1972.


A new theory describing the time-optimal control of saccadic eye movements is proposed based on Pontryagin's minimum principle and physiological considerations. The lateral and medial rectus muscle of each eye is assumed to be a parallel combination of an active state tension generator with a viscosity and elastic element, connected to a series elastic element. The eyeball is modeled as a sphere connected to a viscosity and elastic element. Each of these elements is assumed to be ideal and linear. The neuronal control strategy is shown to be a first-order time-optimal control signal. Under this condition, the active state tension for each muscle is a low-pass filtered pulse-step waveform. The magnitude of the agonist pulse is a maximum for saccades of all sizes and only the duration of the agonist pulse affects the size of the saccade. The antagonist muscle is completely inhibited during the period of maximum stimulation for the agonist muscle. Horizontal saccadic eye movements were recorded from infrared signals reflected from the anterior surface of the cornea and then digitized. Parameter estimates for the model were calculated by using a conjugate gradient search program which minimizes the integral of the absolute value of the squared error between the model and the data. The predictions of the model under a time-optimal controller are in good agreement with the data.


This paper presents a new gas bearing concept that targets machine applications in the megawatt (MW) power range. The concept involves combining a compliant hybrid gas bearing (CHGB) with two hermetically sealed squeeze film damper (HSFD) modules installed in the bearing support damper cavities. The main aim of the research was to demonstrate gas bearing-support damping levels using HSFD that rival conventional open-flow squeeze film dampers (SFD) in industry. A detailed description of the bearing design and functionality is discussed while anchoring the concept through a brief recap of past gas bearing concepts. Proof-of-concept experimental testing is presented involving parameter identification of the bearing support force coefficients along with a demonstration of speed and load capability using recessed hydrostatic pads. Finally, a landing test was performed on the bearing at high speed and load with porous carbon pads to show capability of sustaining rubs at high speeds. The component testing revealed robust viscous damping in the bearing support, which was shown to be comparable to existing state of the art SFD concepts. The damping and stiffness of the system-portrayed moderate frequency dependency, which was simulated using a 2D Reynolds-based incompressible fluid flow model. Finally, rotating tests demonstrated the ability of the gas bearing concept to sustain journal excursions and loads indicative of critical speed transitions experienced in large turbomachinery.


Purpose

This paper aims to stimulate interest in the potentials of serious games within organizations. Through the examination of a case study, emphasis is given to serious games designed for health care (HC) organizations that are adopting lean thinking principles and tools.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper discusses how serious games can be designed and implemented in practice by describing a case study based on a HC organization. The program, now in its second year, has been used extensively to train HC professionals.

Findings

The article is based on the authors' firsthand experience with serious games and the outcome of several projects carried out in the HC setting under analysis. Serious games were found to be powerful training and management development tools as well as engaging environments for professionals. Specifically, The Lean Healthcare Lab supported professionals in their use and implementation of several Lean principles and techniques.

Research limitations/implications

The article suggests the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of serious games also to improve team performance and develop leadership skills.

Practical implications

Serious games have an enormous potential in sustaining processes of both individual and organizational learning, as well as facilitating improved teamwork. Moreover, serious games are very effective educational tools when compared to more conventional programs.

Originality/value

The approach described in this study can be used to design and implement serious games in any type of organization, in particular, those employing highly skilled professionals. Additionally, this article highlights how serious games can provide learners with a simulated close-to-reality environment where they are challenged to develop policies and use a variety of Lean and management tools.


We report the development of intergranular and interphase constraints in textured Zircaloy-2, Zr-2.5Nb, and Excel alloy during room temperature tension and compression loading in two or three directions relative to the parent texture. Neutron diffraction was used to track the lattice strain development in the α-phase (all alloys) and β-phase (Zr-2.5Nb and Excel) in three principal directions relative to the parent texture. Zircaloy-2 at room temperature is essentially single phase hcp αZr. The active deformation mechanisms appear to be, in order of increasing critical resolved shear stress, prism (a) slip, basal (a) slip, tensile twinning and pyramidal (c+a) slip. No compressive twinning was observed. Combined with intergranular constraints due to prior thermal treatment, these mechanisms result in substantial asymmetry in the yield stress and lattice strain development (compression versus tension). In Zr-2.5 Nb and Excel, the α-phase appears to deform by the same slip mechanisms as Zircaloy-2, and similar assymmetry of the yield stress and lattice strain development is observed. However, the existence of tensile twinning is not clearly evidenced. The β-phase also deforms by slip, but the critical resolved shear stress is much higher than that for the slip mechanisms in the α-phase, leading to the development of very large interphase constraints in the plastic deformation regime. This is attributed to a combination of solution strengthening of the β-phase (by Nb and, in Excel, Mo) and by grain size.


One of the nurse executive's most important activities is responding to the new financial pressures in health care. Nurse executives can effectively address this concern through developing nurse managers' financial skills. Financial management seminars can be an effective way to address this development need. This article reports on a seminar in which managers are shown how they can best motivate staff nurses, and provide them with new tools and techniques to perform in a more cost-effective manner.


Cell nanoencapsulation is a novel delivery system based on a self-assembly technique mediated by electrostatic interactions called Layer-by-Layer (LbL) deposition, without an increase in volume implant because of the nanometric thickness of its layers. LbL coats the entire surface of individual cells, providing mechanical resistance to cells against manipulation and storage conditions prior to implantation in the patient. In this work, single-cell nanocapsule formation using human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSC) given their potentiality in regenerative medicine was assessed by fluorescence microscopy and Zeta potential assays. Both methodologies were conclusive in showing layer-by-layer nanocapsule formation of every single ADSC. Significant differences in terms of viability and cell functionality preservation were observed depending on the polycation used. Using a combination of fluorescence microscopy and fluorimetric assays, we found that cell survival after nanocapsulation was only efficient when chitosan was added to cells. These results were consistent with other cell types used in this study. Other polycations such as poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) and poly-L-lysine (PLL) markedly decreased cell viability (22%, 11% and 15%, respectively). In addition, the use of potassium-enriched saline solutions, such as Hanks and Ringer's solution, during the nanoencapsulation process on ADSCs was harmful on cell viability compared to standard media (36% vs 79%, respectively). The addition of a mixture of polyanions such as hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate did not affect cell viability (79% and 81%). The combination of chitosan/hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate was also effective in preserving the cell functionality of ADSCs, including the proliferation and differentiation of these cells as assessed by MTT assay and microscopy, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that ADSCs can be successfully nanoencapsulated using a first layer of chitosan and a second layer of a combination of hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate with a standard potassium concentration in the culture medium.


SUMMARY The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nasal obstruction and nasal cytology in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) treated with a liposomal based nasal spray containing vitamins A and E. This is a prospective double-blind, controlled study. A total of 106 patients with AR, who rejected anti-allergic therapy, were randomly divided into two groups: G (study group, n = 53) received liposomal nasal spray and C (control group, n = 53) received 0.9% sodium chloride solution nasal spray. Both nasal sprays were applied two times a day, in the morning and at night, in both nasal cavities. The study lasted for 30 days. The first ENT evaluation was performed the first day (T0) and the second evaluation was performed at the end of the study (T1). Symptoms (SNOT-22 test with VAS) and signs (nasal cytology) of both groups were recorded at T0 and T1. Liposomal nasal spray was effective in improving both nasal symptoms and cytology in patients suffering from perennial AR. Treatment with liposomal nasal spray with vitamins A and E was followed by a significant improvement of VAS scale (p < 0.0001), a significant decrease in SNOT-22 (p < 0.0001) and a significant decrease in inflammatory cell count (p < 0.0001). In conclusion, our study provides evidence that liposomal nasal spray improves the nasal symptoms of AR. The patients were compliant to this therapy because of limited side effects. The reduction in inflammatory cells count was remarkable and confirmed the close association between eosinophil infiltration and nasal airflow impairment. These results may have implications for clinical practice.


The COVID-19 pandemic has affected most healthcare systems around the world. Routine care operations such as outpatient clinics and elective surgery remain badly hit. This situation cannot continue for long as it puts patients at a higher risk for complications due to delayed management. Hence, it is essential to resume routine, especially elective surgery. Regarding orthopaedic practice, various authors and organisations have come out with guidelines to resume elective surgeries. However, clear consensus and common strategies need be derived. With this motive, we conducted a review of the literature for guidelines to resume elective orthopaedic surgery amid COVID-19 pandemic and shortlisted scholarly publications and information from regional organisations. We have summarised the information and derived an organised algorithm considering the guidelines provided by various sources. In this extraordinary time, guidelines come in as a relief for every surgeon who is in a dilemma whether to resume electives or not. Putting safety first, these guidelines or suitable versions should be followed at all levels wherever possible to avoid the lack of trained manpower in the event of staff morbidity.


The adsorption of non-ionic and ionic solutes from aqueous solution at selected biological surfaces has been investigated by direct and indirect methods. In preliminary experiments, electron complex formation which might operate in the adsorption, has boon investigated; also the "method of continuous variations" with refractive index se the independent variable has been shown to be satisfactory for determine intermolecular-complex formation in binary mixtures of solutes dissolved in hydrogen-bonding and non-bonding solvents. Part I of this thesis is concerned with the adsorption of non ionic solutes on protein substrates. The refractive index method. has been used with dilute aqueous solutions of a variety of simple mono-saccharides and disaccharides many in D- and L-configurations on the one hand, and several proteins, and various model compounds, on the other. The results show that: all pentoses, and also meso-inositol and mannitol appear to react with each protein tested; no disaccharide reacts; hexosos may or may not react, according to the particular, Stereo-isomer used and the nature of the protein. It is suggested that a molecular sieve process is in operation, such that only carbohydrate molecules below a limiting size can penetrate the dissolved protein aggregates and thus forma hydrogen-bend complex. Hexese molecules are near the critical size for entry and whether they combine or not is determined by steric factors. It is also suggested that L-sorbose exists in water, and combites with other solutes, as an aggregate of eight molecules. (v) Part II is concerned with the adsorption of ionic solutes on actual biological cello. The mechanism of adsorption of cationic dyes on dead yeast cells is first investigated. The adsorption is extremely rapid and although it varies with temperature and the concentration of the yeast suspension used, the shapes of the isotherms for each dye are the same under all the conditions used. Formalin-fixed cello have been shown to be a standard substrate in that their adsorption properties appear to be reproducible and remain unaltered over long periods. Adsorption of cationic dye micelles appears to occur in the case of all the dyes with symmetrically charged cations. It is suggested that this micellar adsorption may be important in the mechanism of the Gram stain reaction. Rhodamine B, which is an unsymmetrical dye, appears to be adsorbed as a monolayer of dye cations stacked edge on, and inter-linked by hydrogen bonds; on protein fibres and on graphite however, which were included for comparison, this dye appears to be adsorbed flat-wise. It is therefore suggested that the protein of the yeast cello is not the site of adsorption, but that some other ionic substances, perhaps nucleic acids, are the adsorption sites. This suggestion is supported by results of tests which show the similarity of the adsorption isotherm of Rhodamine B on WA and on yeast. There is a linear relationship between the size of the dye molecule and simple functions of the degree of aggregation at the surface. In fact for three such chemically different materials as chromatographic alumina, graphite and yeast, there appears to be an identical linear relationship. (7i) relationship between the logarithm of the degree of aggregation and the logarithm of the dye cationic weight. The mechanism of the adsorption of the anionic dyes Methyl Blue and Aniline Blue on sections of the testis of the mouse is also investigated. Those dyes, though anionic, have the anomalous ability to stain strongly the basiphil (i.e. cation attracting) chromatin of the spermatogenetic cells, Extraction of the basiphil nucleic acid constituents from the chromatin causes loss of this property, whereas destruction of acidophilia in the protein constituents does not, It has been concluded that the dyes interact with the nucleic) acids. Further, they appear to react with both DNA and RNA in the chromatin, although they show no affinity for the cytoplasm of the exocrine cells in sections of pancreas, which is rich in RNA. The mechanism of the reaction has not been fully elucidated, although the dyes do not behave as basic dyes towards the nucleic acids, and the interaction is non-ionic. It is suggested that interaction involves donation of electrons by the dye molecules to electron-deficient rites in the nucleic acids.


According to the three-factor theory, the surface roughness of different wood-based environmental materials was evaluated using the surface roughness profiling instrument, and the underlying effective factors of the differences were analyzed. The psycho-physiological examination of the materials' roughness on human psychology and physiology was also carried out. During the examination, physical roughness factors of the materials were treated as the independent variable, and the heart rate variability (HRV) and dynamic blood pressure (DBP) were chosen as the dependent variables. The sympathetic and parasympathetic activities of human autonomic nervous system as toughing material surface were investigated depending on the time domain analysis of HRV. The results showed that there exists a negative linear correlation between the physical roughness of materials and the human psycho-physiologic indexes. Overall, wood materials were proper to physiological stimulate of the body, they can't cause the risk of physiological imbalance and would soon return to normal mentation after touching. Mental capacity with HRV of the body could illustrate the suitable tactile sense characteristics with the performance of the basic physical quantities of wood materials.


The most common taxonomy of free will theories of free will hinges on the distinction between compatibilism and incompatibilism, which respectively assert and deny the compatibility of free will with causal determinism. This is a useful distinction, but it does not throw light on a fundamental aspect of the debate, regarding how the different views conceive of the role that philosophy and science should play in tackling with the free will issue. In this perspective, another taxonomy will be presented and three families of theories will be distinguished: scientific isolationism ("Free will is a business of science alone"), interactionism ("Both science and philosophy have to deal with the free will issue"), and philosophical isolationism ("Free will is a business of philosophy alone"). In conclusion, it will be argued that interactionism is the right approach.


ABSTRACT Couvillion, B.R.; Steyer, G.D.; Wang, H.; Beck, H.J., and Rybczyk, J.M., 2013. Forecasting the effects of coastal protection and restoration projects on wetland morphology in coastal Louisiana under multiple environmental uncertainty scenarios. Few landscape scale models have assessed the effects of coastal protection and restoration projects on wetland morphology while taking into account important uncertainties in environmental factors such as sea-level rise (SLR) and subsidence. In support of Louisiana's 2012 Coastal Master Plan, we developed a spatially explicit wetland morphology model and coupled it with other predictive models. The model is capable of predicting effects of protection and restoration projects on wetland area, landscape configuration, surface elevation, and soil organic carbon (SOC) storage under multiple environmental uncertainty scenarios. These uncertainty scenarios included variability in parameters such as eustatic SLR (ESLR), subsidence rate, and Mississippi River discharge. Models were run for a 2010–2060 simulation period. Model results suggest that under a "future-without-action" condition (FWOA), coastal Louisiana is at risk of losing between 2118 and 4677 km2 of land over the next 50 years, but with protection and restoration projects proposed in the Master Plan, between 40% and 75% of that loss could be mitigated. Moreover, model results indicate that under a FWOA condition, SOC storage (to a depth of 1 m) could decrease by between 108 and 250 million metric tons, a loss of 12% to 30% of the total coastwide SOC, but with the Master Plan implemented, between 35% and 74% of the SOC loss could be offset. Long-term maintenance of project effects was best attained in areas of low SLR and subsidence, with a sediment source to support marsh accretion. Our findings suggest that despite the efficacy of restoration projects in mitigating losses in certain areas, net loss of wetlands in coastal Louisiana is likely to continue. Model results suggest certain areas may eventually be lost regardless of proposed restoration investment, and, as such, other techniques and strategies of adaptation may have to be utilized in these areas.


Background. Recent years have seen tremendous research efforts in the development of English for academic and research publication purposes, utilising an established approach to comparative genre analysis. This growing interest is primarily driven by the global dominance of Anglophone writing conventions, which necessitates raising awareness among researchers, particularly in non-Anglophone contexts.
Purpose. This study explored and analysed the communicative intents of the discussion sections in research articles in two different contexts to investigate the effect of nativeness on the structural organisation in this genre. The focus of the study was on the rhetorical structure and employment of Moves in the applied linguistics research article Discussions, written in English by Iranian and native English-speaking researchers.
Methods. A mixed-methods research study was conducted on two corpora, comprising 40 Discussions written by Iranian scholars and 40 Discussions written by native English-speaking scholars, selected from research articles published in international peer-reviewed journals.
Results. The comparison of the two corpora revealed similarities and differences in the frequency, type, structure, sequence, and cyclicity of Moves. While there were significant differences in the frequency and sequence of Moves and Steps, both corpora employed the same types. They featured cyclical structures with no evidence of linear patterns across the Discussions. Both groups of researchers found it essential to provide background information and report and comment on the results in the research article Discussions, however, with notable differences in commenting strategies, i.e., Steps. The results indicated that socio-cultural conventions might have influenced the scholars' under- and over-employment of certain Moves and Steps in the research article Discussions.
Implications. The findings of this study provide research-based evidence to practically and pedagogically assist in the context of English for academic and specific purposes, particularly in teaching English for research publication purposes to non-native English-speaking scholars.


The purpose of the meeting was to share and discuss the lessons emerging from recent experiences on emergency cash distributions within the region. Each of the five panelists made a short presentation, as summarized below. During the discussion that followed, various views and concerns were expressed, covering a wide range of issues. The summary of the discussion is organized around the main themes that were raised.


Purpose - Although granted funding from government agencies, Britain's Northern Rock (NR) Bank experienced a depositors' bank run in 2007. The purpose of this paper is to explore bank managers' and the Triparties' communications, in their failed attempt to reassure depositors during the crisis. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on content analysis of information given to depositors by bank managers and the Triparties via mass media. The theoretical concepts of rituals and masking were utilized. Findings - Results suggest that nonfinancial reporting supersedes financial reporting. Rather than hidden losses, bank regulators' and politicians' discussions of emergency funding for NR was the crucial incident signaling "something going on." Even positive statements by prominent organizational actors may have signaled serious problems that compromised NR's "business as usual" stance. Practical implications - Collective action manifested in a bank run is triggered by reasons other than numbers in financial reporting. The research results indicate a need to consider how regulatory authorities act during financial crises. Originality/value - Previous studies concluded that sensegivers must be consistent in framing communication to sensemakers. Sensemaking requires that the crisis communication is also consistent in the sensemakers' framing. Because it is difficult for sensegivers to reshape the collective sensemakers' frame, successful crisis communication requires that sensegivers change their communication to match the sensemakers' frame, including symbolic actions. Additionally, a bank run is characterized first by loss of trust in financial reporting; second, in nonfinancial reporting; and, finally, in the sensegiving actor: a domino effect.


Silver nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by aqueous Beetroot extract. Effective parameters on the synthesis of silver NPs like pH, extract volume, silver nitrate concentration and time of reaction have been investigated at room temperature. The synthesized silver NPs have been studied with different analysis like UV-Vis, FT-IR, FE-SEM, TEM, and XRD. Our analysis indicates that the level of Surface Plasmon is 439 nm. The shape of NPs is spherical and the size is 20-30 nm by using FE-SEM and TEM technique. Four bacteria (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Salmonella typhymurium) were used as references bacteria to analyze the antibacterial effect. Antibacterial results show, gram negative bacteria are so sensitive to synthesized silver NP. Recommended method was completely eco-friendly.


Curcuma spp. (turmeric) has been used since ancient days in popular medicine and gastronomy. Many of its bioactive compounds have just recently been identified and characterized as potential source of new medicines. In this review will relate aspects of cultivated turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), including taxonomy, chemical composition, production and processing, and biological activities such as the action against fungi, bacteria, nematodes, protozoa and viruses, including those of importance for human health, agriculture and food science.


~" An abscess was removed from the left occipital region in a 73-year-old woman with no previous history of tuberculosis. The patient later died from aspiration bronchopneumonia. Autopsy revealed a basilar tuberculous meningitis and miliary tuberculosis in the peritracheal lymphatic glands, the liver, the spleen, and in isolated areas of the lungs. No chronic tuberculous foci were noted in any area. Including this case, only 18 instances of tuberculous abscess have been reported.


Conduct Disorder and Future Substance Abuse: Factors Affecting Drug Treatment Outcome Matthew E. Goldfine Prior research has demonstrated a relation between Conduct Disorder (CD), its severity (total number of symptoms), and substance use disorder (SUD). The current study examined 105 opioid dependent adults for a history of CD and treatment outcome characteristics over a 16 week SUD treatment program. Results demonstrate the effects of CD in regards to poorer improvement of summed Addiction Severity Index composite scores and amphetamine use. Improvement in cocaine use was found to be associated with a CD diagnosis. CD severity was found to lead to poorer improvement as measured by psychiatric impairment and alcohol intoxication. However, participants with increased CD severity were more likely to decrease sedative and cocaine use over the course of treatment. A history of CD and violent behavior was not shown to affect treatment outcome. No treatment retention or urine sample analyses differences were found among any of the comparison groups.


Small scale dry peat mining operations can have a significant environmental impact on peatland ecosystems. At present, peat mining operations are proposed for the Lake Muir Wetlands. These wetlands are part of a nature reserve which contains six new species of aquatic water mites. This study investigated the present aquatic invertebrate community structure in the Lake Muir Wetlands, and reviewed the relevant literature to determine the possible effects of peat mining on those invertebrates.

Three fen peatlands near Manjimup (Poorginup, Tordit-Gurrup and Byenup) were sampled in December 1985 and April 1986 to determine their water chemistry, and all three wetlands were found to be freshwater (0.1 - 7.0%0), circumneutral (pH 5-8) and meso-eutrophic. A total of 103 species of aquatic invertebrates were recorded with only eight species being common between the three wetlands. Indices of similarity demonstrated a definite dissimilarity between the three wetlands based on species richness. The class lnsecta dominate the invertebrate fauna, accounting for 72% of the total number of species recorded.

Species abundance/m3 showed a variation with season, and was lower in comparison to urban wetlands studied in Western Australia. Species diversity and evenness were also compared, with the Lake Muir Wetlands having a higher species diversity, but similar evenness.

Based on the literature reviewed there are numerous environmental impacts associated with the various stages of peat mining. The stages identified as most detrimental to aquatic invertebrates are the clearing and draining of the peatland. The potential effects of these two aspects of the mining operation on invertebrates are both direct and indirect. The potential adverse impacts of these disturbances on the Lake Muir aquatic invertebrates are proposed and possible causal mechanisms discussed.


BACKGROUND
Retained placenta is a common complication of pregnancy affecting 1% to 6% of all births. If a retained placenta is left untreated, spontaneous delivery of the placenta may occur, but there is a high risk of bleeding and infection. Manual removal of the placenta (MROP) in an operating theatre under anaesthetic is the usual treatment, but is invasive and may have complications. An effective non-surgical alternative for retained placenta would potentially reduce the physical and psychological trauma of the procedure, and costs. It could also be lifesaving by providing a therapy for settings without easy access to modern operating theatres or anaesthetics. Injection of uterotonics into the uterus via the umbilical vein and placenta is an attractive low-cost option for this. This is an update of a review last published in 2011.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the use of umbilical vein injection (UVI) of saline solution with or without uterotonics compared to either expectant management or with an alternative solution or other uterotonic agent for retained placenta.

SEARCH METHODS
For this update, we searched Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth's Trials Register, ClinicalTrials.gov, the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (14 June 2020), and reference lists of retrieved studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing UVI of saline or other fluids (with or without uterotonics), either with expectant management or with an alternative solution or other uterotonic agent, in the management of retained placenta. We considered quasi-randomised, cluster-randomised, and trials reported only in abstract form.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently assessed trials for inclusion and risk of bias, extracted data, and checked them for accuracy. We assessed the certainty of the evidence using the GRADE approach. We calculated pooled risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and presented results using 'Summary of findings' tables.

MAIN RESULTS
We included 24 trials (n = 2348). All included trials were RCTs, one was quasi-randomised, and none were cluster-randomised. Risk of bias was variable across the included studies. We assessed certainty of evidence for four comparisons: saline versus expectant management, oxytocin versus expectant management, oxytocin versus saline, and oxytocin versus plasma expander. Evidence was moderate to very-low certainty and downgraded for risk of bias of included studies, imprecision, and inconsistency of effect estimates. Saline solution versus expectant management There is probably little or no difference in the incidence of MROP between saline and expectant management (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.10; 5 studies, n = 445; moderate-certainty evidence). Evidence for the following remaining primary outcomes was very-low certainty: severe postpartum haemorrhage 1000 mL or greater, blood transfusion, and infection. There were no events reported for maternal mortality or postpartum anaemia (24 to 48 hours postnatal). No studies reported addition of therapeutic uterotonics. Oxytocin solution versus expectant management UVI of oxytocin solution might slightly reduce in the need for manual removal compared with expectant management (mean RR 0.73, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.95; 7 studies, n = 546; low-certainty evidence). There may be little to no difference between the incidence of blood transfusion between groups (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.47 to 1.38; 4 studies, n = 339; low-certainty evidence). There were no maternal deaths reported (2 studies, n = 93). Evidence for severe postpartum haemorrhage of 1000 mL or greater, additional uterotonics, and infection was very-low certainty. There were no events for postpartum anaemia (24 to 48 hours postnatal). Oxytocin solution versus saline solution UVI of oxytocin solution may reduce the use of MROP compared with saline solution, but there was high heterogeneity (RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.97; 14 studies, n = 1370; I² = 54%; low-certainty evidence). There were no differences between subgroups according to risk of bias or oxytocin dose for the outcome MROP. There may be little to no difference between groups in severe postpartum haemorrhage of 1000 mL or greater, blood transfusion, use of additional therapeutic uterotonics, and antibiotic use. There were no events for postpartum anaemia (24 to 48 hours postnatal) (very low-certainty evidence) and there was only one event for maternal mortality (low-certainty evidence). Oxytocin solution versus plasma expander One small study reported UVI of oxytocin compared with plasma expander (n = 109). The evidence was very unclear about any effect on MROP or blood transfusion between the two groups (very low-certainty evidence). No other primary outcomes were reported. For other comparisons there were little to no differences for most outcomes examined. However, there was some evidence to suggest that there may be a reduction in MROP with prostaglandins in comparison to oxytocin (4 studies, n = 173) and ergometrine (1 study, n = 52), although further large-scale studies are needed to confirm these findings.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
UVI of oxytocin solution is an inexpensive and simple intervention that can be performed when placental delivery is delayed. This review identified low-certainty evidence that oxytocin solution may slightly reduce the need for manual removal. However, there are little or no differences for other outcomes. Small studies examining injection of prostaglandin (such as dissolved misoprostol) into the umbilical vein show promise and deserve to be studied further.


For many years, employers have sought to improve employee productivity and work environments. One common strategy is alternative work arrangements, which include flextime, job sharing, telecommuting, and a compressed workweek. In this article, the authors examine the effects of implementing a compressed workweek (four 10-hour days) for employees in city government. This study examines the impact of the compressed workweek schedule on the job satisfaction and work–family conflict of the participating employees. Employees perceived that the alternative schedule increased their productivity and their ability to serve the citizens. Additionally, the authors report that employees working the 4/10 workweek experience lower levels of work–family conflict than their counterparts who are working other schedules, but no significant difference for most measures of job satisfaction. Overall, the authors argue that the impacts of alternative work schedules need more careful study.


AIM
The study aimed to analyze students' approach to evidence-based practice and evaluate the effect of teaching (based on lessons in statistics, epidemiology, evidence-based nursing, bioengineering, English language) and internship experiences on the attitude of nursing students to evidence-based practice.

METHOD
In 2019,one hundred nineteen second-year nursing students from an Italian university were involved in a pre-post longitudinal study. The Italian version of the Student-Evidence Based Practice Questionnaire was administered to nursing student in four moments of one academic year.

RESULTS
The Student-Evidence Based Practice Questionnaire showed different mean scores based on the four moments of the survey with a significant increase after the experience of planning clinical cases with an online simulation system. In particular, the aptitude subscale does not have significant improvements in the various phases of the study. Conversely, the support of the clinical tutor affects student performance. The didactic module on evidence-based nursing develops the ability to assess the quality of the information found and its sharing. Basic English proficiency is not significantly correlated.

CONCLUSION
To develop evidence-based practice knowledge, aptitude, and skills in nursing students, it is necessary to strengthen the learning opportunities both in classroom lessons and in simulation and internship experiences.


We report an experimental study of the magnetic order and electronic structure and transport of the layered pnictide EuMnSb2, performed using neutron diffraction, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and magnetotransport measurements. We find that the Eu and Mn sublattices display antiferromagnetic (AFM) order below T EuN = 21(1) K and T MnN = 350(2) K, respectively. The former can be described by an A-type AFM structure with the Eu spins aligned along the c axis (an in-plane direction), whereas the latter has a C-type AFM structure with Mn moments along the a -axis (perpendicular to the layers). The ARPES spectra reveal Dirac-like linearly dispersing bands near the Fermi energy. Furthermore, our magnetotransport measurements show strongly anisotropic magnetoresistance and indicate that the Eu sublattice is intimately coupled to conduction electron states near the Dirac point.


Kierkegaard's originality as philosopher comes out more clearly if he is analysed without any preconception. His view on man and woman is based on indeterminist foundations, approaching individual behavior as choice, alternatives of action and degrees of freedom in the present and for the future. Determinism ex post - indeterminism ex ante. His rejection of Hegelian macro determinism and social teleology anticipates 20 th century revolution in the social sciences, namely game theory.